Finding the Top 40 in a Saturday Morning Cartoon

Doug:  Last Wednesday Karen kicked off our now-ongoing retrospective on Saturday morning cartoons with a nice discussion of the Banana Splits.  Like many of you, I came to that show in syndication, vividly remembering it on weekday afternoons.  I didn't make any comments at the time, but I'll belatedly toss out a big "thanks!" to those of you who jogged this old guy's memory with such things as the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  I had completely forgotten about that!

Doug:  Which brings us to today.  A few weeks ago when Karen and I were discussing this "series", some of the shows that came to my mind were cartoon versions of the Osmond Brothers and the Jackson 5.  Does anyone remember those?  I don't recall a lot of details -- like many of you, I do have recollections mainly of waiting for the songs.  I've included some clips below, so you can see the quality of the animation.  As these were undoubtedly snatched straight from the TV, the quality is sketchy.  But you'll get the idea if you've never seen this before.  And, let's not limit ourselves to just these two shows.  If you know of other musical acts that were "cartoon-ized", then by all means toss 'em out for all of us to discourse on (Beatles, anyone?)!

Face-Off: Young Michael or Teenaged (and beyond) Michael?

Doug: So I'm driving the other day, with the iTouch plugged into the stereo system, and I come across a few Jackson 5 songs. I'm struck by the difference in style between Michael Jackson's vocals on their first hits, when his voice was powerful and straightforward, and his voice on their later hits when he segued into the style he'd use during his solo career. I'm talking about all of the hiccups, "oohs!", and even the crotch grabs (yeah, I'm hearing the song, but seeing them just goes along with the audio). So which era of the Jacksons do you prefer? For reference, I've divided their hits by Michael's age, first from the time he was 11, the second list after he'd turned 15.

Their first hits (1969-74)

I Want You Back
ABC
The Love You Save
I'll Be There
Never Can Say Good-bye
Dancing Machine

Their later hits (1974-1984)

Blame It On the Boogie
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)
Can You Feel It
State of Shock (w/ Mick Jagger)
Torture

5 Pop Christmas Songs to Love

Say, there -- how about your favorite recording artists getting in the holiday spirit? Nothing screams commercialism like a pop star or group mining some old yuletide standbys. I've included links to the sound samples from http://www.amazon.com/ in case you've never heard the version of the songs I'm mentioning. Here are five I really like:

1. Merry Christmas, Baby by the King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley

It truly doesn't get any better than this, and that's why it's at the top of the list. Elvis at his bluesy best. This one really picks up steam as it goes along, and finishes quite well. A true standard.

1. 2. Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys
   

A little sappy, but a nice little toe-tapper, sing along (how about the Run, Run Reindeer part of the chorus?) -- always, always seems to get stuck in my head after I hear it. Standard Beach Boys from the era, but what's wrong with that?

3. Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town by the Jackson 5

Little Michael just a'wailin' is what makes this song special. It's the familiar arrangement, but really amped up by Michael's vocals. This comes from their early era, back in the days of ABC, I Want You Back, etc.

4. Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon

A much better effort than Paul McCartney's Christmas effort, Wonderful Christmas, which gets a little tired after a very short time. Lennon manages to squeeze his mission for world peace into his Christmas offering. The children's chorus really sends his point home with emphasis.

5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by U2

Recorded right after the band scored mega-big with their live/studio combination Rattle and Hum album, this song is one of the true highlights of the very first A Very Special Christmas compilation. It's upbeat, Bono's vocals are great, and it's, like several listed before, a toe-tapper

Honorable Mention: Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid

I love this song, and to this day can pick out the various artists singing. While USA For Africa's recording We Are the World was equally important in terms of the talent assembled to play/sing, I just like this song better. It still evokes memories of those days when big time world issues were at the forefront of our MTV news, and giving was encouraged by our superstars.